{"id":3761,"date":"2009-08-19T13:19:10","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T18:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fromutopia.com\/?p=3761"},"modified":"2009-08-19T13:19:10","modified_gmt":"2009-08-19T18:19:10","slug":"self-portrait-in-random-scraps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/self-portrait-in-random-scraps\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-portrait in random scraps"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Toddler
Toddler self-portrait 1<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1. I’m 25 pages away from the end of my friend Lon’s novel manuscript. This is the third draft I’ve read of it. It was good the first time. It keeps getting better. And yet, I’m not at all confident that this novel, or mine, or any number of other quite good to excellent literary fiction manuscripts will ever see publication. The state of publishing, it’s getting damn discouraging. Of course I write mostly for myself (or I would write something far more marketable than what I do), but yes, I want my novels to be published, and yes I want them to be read. What’s a novel that no one ever reads? I’m not sure it truly exists until it goes out into the world and interacts with readers. So where does the current trade publishing industry, so afraid to take risks and so insistent on short-term Return on Investment, leave the literary writer? Our best hope is most likely with the smaller independent presses, but they don’t have the distribution or marketing power of the big houses, so… So I don’t know. But it’s kind of terrifying. <\/p>\n

\"Toddler
Toddler self-portrait 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

2. My teaching rotation with the Afghan Women’s Writing Project<\/a> begins soon. I’m excited and nervous. Trying to prepare and not sure how to approach it. On the one hand, these women are writing students like any others. On the other, their experiences are so very different from mine, and from what you’ll find in the general population of a writing workshop here in the US, that I don’t think I can approach them in the same way. I mean…someone is putting themselves in danger just to participate in your class… Can you really give them exercises like, “Okay, so go out and eavesdrop on a conversation…”<\/p>\n

Anyone who has taught writing to students in extreme situations out there? I would love to hear from you.<\/p>\n

\"Toddler
Toddler self-portrait 3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3. Also the kiddo starts preschool in a few weeks. How can he be that big already? Who is this kid in the Thomas the Tank Engine underpants? Where’s my chubby little baby?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. I’m 25 pages away from the end of my friend Lon’s novel manuscript. This is the third draft I’ve read of it. It was good the first time. It keeps getting better. And yet, I’m not at all confident …<\/p>\n

Self-portrait in random scraps<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cariluna.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}